The Rural India October 1940

THE RURAL INDIA On the 72nd birth-day of the Saint of Sevagram The Rural India joins the chorus of prayers offered by millions as a mark of the silent homage and deep gratitude that they owe to this representative of theirs for all that he stands for and has done for his people in raising them in the estimation of the world. [...] Inspite of the adverse conditions of the year if The Rural India regitered an year of progress and all-round popularity it is merely due to the inherent justice of the cause of the dumb millions living in villages which it has made its exclusive mission to serve and the moving appeal that the cause itself makes to all classes of people. [...] In the wake of the movement of Rural Reconstruction the thoughts of the leaders of public opinion and that of the Goverement have now turned to the miserable plight of the agricuturist who is economically exploited and robbed by many agencies including the middleman or Aratiya who is a selling agent between the producer and the consumer. [...] The middle—man whom the department seeks to eliminate is not only an agent to sell the produce of the agrculturist to the prospective consumer but besides this he combines in hiself the function of the Money—lender and that of the retail-seller of the necessaries of life as far as the villager in concerned. [...] To judge correctly the effect of industrialisation it is necessary to take into account the poverty and enslavement of peoples who are the victims of the greed of the industrialised countries of the world.